Board games, sometimes known as parlor games, enjoy a wide popularity because they can be used on virtually any subject of interest to a substantial number of players and are highly portable. That is, the market for board games is largely to persons who require that the board games be conveniently transportable and easily stored. The games are frequently played by persons not in the same household or away from the home and it is, therefore, important to be able to transport the game easily to a different location, set up the game at that location, and later disassemble the game into a compact package for further transportation and subsequent storage.
For many years the requirement of compactness has imposed a substantial limitation on the ability to market particular games. An example of the type of game that is difficult to market because of the portability-compactness requirement is the game set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,342. This patented game is representative of a genre of games which must display a large amount of information in a format where significant parameters of the information can be changed by the player. As presented in the patent, the information is displayed in plurality of radial columns on an upper rotatable surface which moves over a field of numbers that can be viewed through selected display windows. Since the upper surface is rotatable, there is no convenient way that the rotatable surface can be made foldable and, thus, the size of the game, and therefore the amount of information that can be presented, is limited. Also, since the upper surface of the board is manipulated to change the numbers appearing through the display windows, the problem of the game pieces becoming dislodged during movement of the board is compounded. The patented game incorporates magnetized media underneath the game surface so that the ferrous game pieces will be held securely in place during the movement of the board. Magnetic materials in sheet form, and of sufficient size to underlie the entire board, are relatively expensive, again limiting the size of the board and the potential market for the game.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a game board with a rotatable element for varying the game parameters displayed to the players which, at the same time, is foldable for portability and storage. Such a game is particularly desirable where low cost provision is made for preventing the game pieces becoming dislodged during operation of the variable information display.